The MX-5 Miata of the Monthfrom

December 2003

Lee
Taylor

Congratulations to Lee on his selection for
the December Miata of the Month!

My
story begins in January of 2000.

I had been working for a driving
school in Abbotsford B.C. for about 4 years and my boss was getting a little
tired of teaching standard transmission to 16
year old students. One day over lunch at Pizza Hut, he said, "What would
it take for you to teach standard again?" (I had done it when I first
started there).

I thought for a moment, "Hmmmm, well I really like teaching automatic, I
have a nice car, I get to set my own hours, and it's great." So I replied, "Buy
me a Miata and I will teach standard." (I never expected him to say
yes). He said, "Ok lets go and pick one out." I was shocked!!

Down to the dealership we went
and picked out a 2000 twilight blue with tan leather.
I had never really liked Miatas up to that point. (I always thought they
were slow and not very much fun.) I drove it home the next day and fell
in love,
I put close to 700km on it that first day, I even slept in it that night.

Sadly
though, it went away the next day to have the dual controls put in. The guy
who put them in took one look at the car and started to groan. He had the car
for three weeks and did a masterful job of installing them. By the end of it
though, he hated the car so much that he said if I ever bring the car back for
any reason, he was going to "drive it into the river".

Now I had a fully equipped Miata
training car, and was ready to teach kids how to drive. Wait a sec, I HAVE
TO TEACH KIDS HOW TO DRIVE IN MY
MIATA???
I started
to wonder if this was a good idea. After about a week of teaching and
no major incidents I was having a lot of fun, and the students were having
an easy time learning how
to
drive
it. (Most
of
them learned the basics from their parents anyways, so it was a lot
of fun.) The reactions from kids varied from "I get to learn on
that" to "wow,
it is nicer than my mom's car". I even had some parents pay to
take lessons in it because they liked the car so much. Some students
were afraid to drive
it because they were paranoid they were going to wreck it.

Then the
modification bug bit and I learned I could make the car more fun.

Four
months later I had a custom exhaust and K&N intake put on. (That was another
day when I put close to 500km on it.) I joined the local Miata club shortly
after that and really began to explore the potential of the car. I also met
Chris Cullen and that is where the trouble really started. (He was the mechanic
that most people in the club trusted and took their cars too, so I started to
as well.)
First came the Racing Beat header and FM sway bars, then the brakes,
and it snowballed from there.

It turned into Chris saying "I
wonder if I could make that work" and
Chris can make anything work. Some of the cooler things that
now appear on the car are the electric retractable front licence
plate and the seven water
cannons aimed
in all directions
around the car that can be controlled independently from inside
or outside via the
alarm remote. The modifications didn't stop there. A new Roadstersport
exhaust, Kosei wheels and Kumho tires, a Hard Dog roll bar, and
the list
goes on and
on and on.

Then one day, Chris, Paul, and
myself, were sitting at McDonalds (where we can be found most days) and were
throwing the idea
around of opening
a Miata
specific
repair shop and aftermarket parts store, seeing as how there
wasn't one in western Canada.
Chris had been working on Miatas and RX-7s out of his garage
at home for the past 10 years and was looking to expand. I
was looking
for
a career
change, and Paul was looking for something to fill his spare
time when he is not
fighting
fires.

So,
Eunos Custom Automotive was born. It went from an idea to opening day in about
two months and we haven't looked back since. The Miata truly has opened many
doors in my life, I have met people and been places that I would never have
if not for the little roadster.

I am currently a member of two miata
clubs and have been on more than fifty club runs. As well as organizing more
than
fifteen
runs, including
Mazda
Madness 2003,
an all Mazda show that took place this last summer and
I
hope every summer from here on.
I can't wait for the future and too see where the miata
is going to take me because there is nothing more enjoyable
than cruising
through
the
Fraser canyon,
with
my fiancée beside me, the sun high in the sky, and us wondering what is
around the next corner.